Joy

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Accordingly the soul that is beatified by the vision of God is made one with Him in understanding. The knower and the known must somehow be one. And so, when God reigns in the saints, they too reign along with God. In their person are uttered the words of the Apocalypse 5: 10: “(You) hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” This kingdom, in which God reigns in the saints and the saints reign with God, is called the kingdom of heaven, according to Matthew 3:2: “Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is the same manner of speaking as that whereby presence in heaven is ascribed to God, not in the sense that He is housed in the material heavens, but to show forth the eminence of God over every creature, in the way that heaven towers high above every other material creature, as is indicated in Psalm 112:4: “The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens.” The beatitude of the saints is called the kingdom of heaven, therefore, not because their reward is situated in the material heavens, but because it consists in the contemplation of super-celestial nature. This is also the reason for the statement about the angels in Matthew 18:10: “Their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Hence Augustine, in his explanation of the passage in Matthew 5:12, “Your reward is very great in heaven,” says in his book, De sermone Domini in monte: “I do not think that heaven here means the loftier regions of this visible world. For our reward... is not to be in evanescent things. I think that the expression, ‘in heaven,’ refers rather to the spiritual firmament, where eternal justice dwells” [I, 5]. This ultimate good, which consists in God, is also called eternal life. The word is used in the sense in which the action of the animating soul is called life. Hence we distinguish as many kinds of life as there are kinds of action performed by the soul, among which the action of the intellect is supreme; and, according to the Philosopher, the action of the intellect is life [Metaphysics, XII, 7, 1072 b 27]. Furthermore, since an act receives species from its object, the vision of the divinity is called eternal life, as we read in John 17:3: “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God.”

• From Love 2.0: Finding Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection (2013)

  Barrett’s answer to the question, what is an emotion?, equally compatible with the premise that you inherited your basic emotional architecture from a long line of human ancestors, is that your experiences of anger, fear, and joy are not, in fact, biological givens, handed to you, preformed, by specific hardwired locations or circuits in your brain. Instead, she argues for considerably more flexibility in what makes for an emotion. Posing an assumption-shaking challenge to the field we share, Barrett contends that your brain comes preset only with the capacity to represent what she calls core affect, the more amorphous pleasure or displeasure of your bodily states, along with some degree of arousal. What makes for a specific experience of anger, fear, or joy, then, is your ability to weave together your appreciation of your body’s current state of pleasure or displeasure with your conceptual understanding of what’s happening to you in that very moment. In other words, higher-order mental processes—like memory, learning, knowledge, and language—are the more basic “ingredients of mind” that combine together with “core affect” to create the various recipes for states like anger, fear, or joy. Although aspects of Barrett and colleagues’ “constructionist” view of emotions can be traced back to earlier scientists, theirs is the first to be backed by modern neuroscientific evidence. What does this mean for love? What does it mean for you? Plenty. For millennia, your ancestors felt energized by markedly good feelings when they interacted and connected with others. Those were the moments that made them feel part of something much larger than themselves, more energized, alert, and alive than they felt in other, more ordinary moments. Piecing together the commonalities across the many and varied situations that gave rise to such powerfully energizing good feelings led your ancestors to come up with words, rituals—and indeed whole religions—fashioned to represent and cultivate those longed-for feelings, in themselves and in others. Having such words and rituals makes a big difference. Research coming out of Barrett’s lab and other labs, including my own, demonstrates that even the particulars of people’s bodily experiences hinge on the labels and ideas each person holds about emotions. For instance, inspired by Barrett’s work, Lindsay Kennedy and Bethany Kok, working in my PEP Lab, were drawn to test whether the bodily effects of anger depend on whether the person experiencing it believes anger to be an emotion, as is typically the case, or whether he or she is led to believe that anger is not an emotion, but instead “an instinctual response to an imbalance of resources.” Fitting with Barrett’s view, people’s understandings of the unpleasant state that they were just then experiencing shaped their bodily response: Those who took anger to be an emotion showed the typical jumps in heart rate and blood pressure, whereas those for whom the idea that anger is an emotion was debunked had an appreciably more muted cardiovascular response.

• From Jesus and the Disinherited (1949)

  What I sensed in their deeply reflective anthology was a level of integrity, self-examination, and social concern that would have brought one of those characteristically broad and deep smiles to the face of our father in the faith. (And when I noted that Testimony was also published by Beacon it seemed very likely that our dear mentor was up to one of his familiar creative tricks.) Surely some of the gifted and committed young people of Testimony could find a vital connection with Jesus and the Disinherited, even if their walls are different from the ones Thurman and his grandmother knew. That is a cause for real joy, but much more has changed in this country than the character of the walls and the number of people who now escape their harsh pressures. So any serious reflection on the possible future of this landmark work from the past must take at least two of those essential changes into consideration. First, we need to recall the fact that in the years when Thurman was most actively wrestling with the issues and spirits that emerged in Jesus and the Disinherited, the Black people who provided his major points of reference in this country often gathered in and around places and events where Jesus of Nazareth was celebrated and at least nominally recognized and followed. Today, at the close of Thurman’s century, those people who live most obviously with their backs against the wall—for instance, the homeless, the working and jobless poor, the substance abused and abusers, the alienated, misguided, and essentially abandoned young people—are rarely within hearing or seeing range of the company of Jesus’ proclaimed followers. The keepers of the faith of the master often find it very difficult, and very dangerous, to follow him into the hard places inhabited by the disinherited of America. And those wall-bruised people find no space for their presence in the places where the official followers are comfortably at worship, unless they happen to find themselves among such exceptions as the young, downwardly mobile worker-believers of the Azuza church fellowship in Dorchester, Massachusetts, or the interracial community of hope in Washington, D.C., the Abyssinian Sojourners.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. And for that reason the Lord kept back the delivery of Elisabeth, that her joy might be increased, and her fame the greater. Hence it follows, And her neighbours and cousins heard, &c. For they who had known her barrenness were made the witnesses of the Divine grace, and no one seeing the child departed in silence, but gave praise to God, Who had vouchsafed him beyond their expectation. AMBROSE. For the bringing forth of saints causes the rejoicing of many; it is a common blessing; for justice is a public virtue, and therefore at the birth of a just man a sign of his future life is sent beforehand, and the grace of the virtue which is to follow is represented, being foreshadowed by the rejoicing of the neighbours. 1:59–6459. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. CHRYSOSTOM. (in Gen. Hom. 39.) The rite of circumcision was first delivered to Abraham as a sign of distinction, that the race of the Patriarch might be preserved in unmixed purity, and so might be able to obtain the promises. But now that the promise of the covenant is fulfilled, the sign attached to it is removed. So then through Christ circumcision ceased, and baptism came in its place; but first it was right that John should be circumcised; as it is said, And it came to pass, that on the eighth day, &c. For the Lord had said, Let the child of eight days be circumcised among you. (Gen. 17:13.) But this measurement of time I conceive was ordered by Divine mercy for two reasons. First, because in its most tender years the child the more easily bears the cutting of the flesh. Secondly, that from the very operation itself we might be reminded that it was done for a sign; for the young child scarcely distinguishes any of the things that are around him. But after the circumcision, the name was conferred, as it follows, And they called him. But this was done because we must first receive the seal of the Lord, then the name of man. Or, because no man except he first cast aside his fleshly lusts, which circumcision signifies, is worthy to have his name written in the book of life.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i, 33), “if he had said, ‘May I enjoy thee,’ without adding ‘in the Lord,’ he would seem to have set the end of his love in him. But since he added that he set his end in the Lord, he implied his desire to enjoy Him”: as if we were to say that he expressed his enjoyment of his brother not as a term but as a means. Reply to Objection 2: Fruit bears one relation to the tree that bore it, and another to man that enjoys it. To the tree indeed that bore it, it is compared as effect to cause; to the one enjoying it, as the final object of his longing and the consummation of his delight. Accordingly these fruits mentioned by the Apostle are so called because they are certain effects of the Holy Ghost in us, wherefore they are called “fruits of the spirit”: but not as though we are to enjoy them as our last end. Or we may say with Ambrose that they are called fruits because “we should desire them for their own sake”: not indeed as though they were not ordained to the last end; but because they are such that we ought to find pleasure in them. Reply to Objection 3: As stated above ([1081]Q[1], A[8];[1082] Q[2], A[7]), we speak of an end in a twofold sense: first, as being the thing itself; secondly, as the attainment thereof. These are not, of course, two ends, but one end, considered in itself, and in its relation to something else. Accordingly God is the last end, as that which is ultimately sought for: while the enjoyment is as the attainment of this last end. And so, just as God is not one end, and the enjoyment of God, another: so it is the same enjoyment whereby we enjoy God, and whereby we enjoy our enjoyment of God. And the same applies to created happiness which consists in enjoyment. Whether enjoyment is only of the end possessed?Objection 1: It would seem that enjoyment is only of the end possessed. For Augustine says (De Trin. x, 1) that “to enjoy is to use joyfully, with the joy, not of hope, but of possession.” But so long as a thing is not had, there is joy, not of possession, but of hope. Therefore enjoyment is only of the end possessed. Objection 2: Further, as stated above [1083](A[3]), enjoyment is not properly otherwise than of the last end: because this alone gives rest to the appetite. But the appetite has no rest save in the possession of the end. Therefore enjoyment, properly speaking, is only of the end possessed. Objection 3: Further, to enjoy is to lay hold of the fruit. But one does not lay hold of the fruit until one is in possession of the end. Therefore enjoyment is only of the end possessed.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Whether man can know that he has grace?Objection 1: It would seem that man can know that he has grace. For grace by its physical reality is in the soul. Now the soul has most certain knowledge of those things that are in it by their physical reality, as appears from Augustine (Gen. ad lit. xii, 31). Hence grace may be known most certainly by one who has grace. Objection 2: Further, as knowledge is a gift of God, so is grace. But whoever receives knowledge from God, knows that he has knowledge, according to Wis. 7:17: The Lord “hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are.” Hence, with equal reason, whoever receives grace from God, knows that he has grace. Objection 3: Further, light is more knowable than darkness, since, according to the Apostle (Eph. 5:13), “all that is made manifest is light,” Now sin, which is spiritual darkness, may be known with certainty by one that is in sin. Much more, therefore, may grace, which is spiritual light, be known. Objection 4: Further, the Apostle says (1 Cor. 2:12): “Now we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God.” Now grace is God’s first gift. Hence, the man who receives grace by the Holy Spirit, by the same Holy Spirit knows the grace given to him. Objection 5: Further, it was said by the Lord to Abraham (Gn. 22:12): “Now I know that thou fearest God,” i.e. “I have made thee know.” Now He is speaking there of chaste fear, which is not apart from grace. Hence a man may know that he has grace. On the contrary, It is written (Eccles. 9:1): “Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred.” Now sanctifying grace maketh a man worthy of God’s love. Therefore no one can know whether he has sanctifying grace. I answer that, There are three ways of knowing a thing: first, by revelation, and thus anyone may know that he has grace, for God by a special privilege reveals this at times to some, in order that the joy of safety may begin in them even in this life, and that they may carry on toilsome works with greater trust and greater energy, and may bear the evils of this present life, as when it was said to Paul (2 Cor. 12:9): “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

• From Chasing Beauty

  “a potent attraction”: BB to ISG, March 25, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 51. “Isabella d’Este is here”: ISG to BB, April 25, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 52. “a tête-à-tête”: The full quotation reads: “Happiness of the collector, happiness of the solitary: a tête-à-tête with things.” Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin, prepared on the basis of the German volume edited by Rolf Tiedmann (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1999), 866. “They and music”: BB to ISG, April 25, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 52. “tightly swathed round”: MC Papers. Green Hill Stable: Tharp, 187. Isabella directed a yearly donation of seventy-five dollars to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in memory of her three favorite horses, Dolly, Pluto, and Lady Betty. See Diana Seave Greenwald, “ISG and Her Horses,” Inside the Collection blog, ISGM, April 26, 2022. “with the birds”: BB to ISG, April 25, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 52. made “a past for”: GTL to ISG, July 28, 1896, ISG Papers, ISGM. “a great outdoor”: Benjamin Brooks, “A New England Garden Home: The Summer Seat of Mrs. Gardner, A Piece of Individualism in Landscape-Gardening,” Country Life in America, March 1902, 150. the “subtle harmony”: Hildegarde Hawthorne, “A Garden of the Imagination: Mrs. Gardner’s at ‘Green Hills,’ Near Boston,” Century Magazine, vol. 80, 447. “grubbing in the earth”: As quoted in Amory, “Gardner in the Garden, Part One,” 68. I am indebted to Sukie Amory’s graceful two-part article on Gardner and her gardens for these details. See esp. 64–68. “Busy Ella” was: Smith, Interesting People, 154. “One of the few greatest”: BB to ISG, May 10, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 55. observed, “there’s nothing”: BB to ISG, June 22, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 58. hitches and wrangling: For the longer story of this purchase, see Nathanial Silver, Titian’s Rape of Europa (Boston: ISGM, 2021), 20–25; see also Saltzman, Old Masters, New World, 72–81. Charles FitzRoy describes in detail how Berenson played his cards in his May 10 letter, accusing him of “skullduggery,” in The Rape of Europa: The Intriguing History of Titian’s Masterpiece (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 170–74. “When comes Europa?”: ISG to BB, 19, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 59. “I hope you have”: ISG to BB, August 2, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 61. But Europa was one: See Matthias Wivel et. al., Titian: Love, Desire, Death (London: National Gallery Company, distributed by Yale University Press, 2020), esp. Nathaniel Silver on Europa, 167–72; also Charles FitzRoy, The Rape of Europa: The Intriguing History of Titian’s Masterpiece (London: Bloomsbury, 2015). “There is the whole” ISG to BB, August 2, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 61. “She has come!”: ISG to BB, August 25, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 64. “I am having”: ISG to BB, September 11, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 65. “I am breathless”: ISG to BB, September 19, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 66. All quotations to the end of the paragraph are from this letter. tears “all of joy!”: ISG to BB, September 19, 1896, ISG/BB Letters, 66.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  The ultimate good we have been speaking of contains perpetual and full joy. Our Lord was thinking of this when He bade us, in John 16:24: “Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Full joy, however, can be gained from no creature, but only from God, in whom the entire plenitude of goodness resides. And so our Lord says to the faithful servant in Matthew 25:21: “Enter into the joy of thy Lord,” that you may have the joy of your Lord, as is indicated in Job 22:26: “Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty.” Since God rejoices most of all in Himself, the faithful servant is said to enter into the joy of his Lord inasmuch as he enters into the joy wherein his Lord rejoices, as our Lord said on another occasion, when He made a promise to His disciples: “And I dispose to you, as My Father has disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom” (Luke 22:29 ff.). Not that the saints, once they have been made incorruptible, have any use for bodily foods in that final state of good; no, by the table is meant rather the replenishment of joy that God has in Himself and that the saints have from Him. This fullness of joy must be understood not only of the object of the rejoicing, but also with reference to the disposition of him who rejoices. In other words, the object of the rejoicing must be present, and the entire affection of the joyful person must be centered on the cause of the joy. As we have shown, in the vision of the divine essence the created spirit possesses God as present; and the vision itself sets the affections completely on fire with divine love. If any object is lovable so far as it is beautiful and good, as Dionysius remarks in De divinis nominibus [IV, 10], surely God, who is the very essence of beauty and goodness, cannot be gazed at without love. Therefore perfect vision is followed by perfect love. Gregory observes in one of his homilies on Ezekiel: “The fire of love which begins to burn here on earth, flares up more fiercely with love of God when He who is loved is seen” [In Ezechielem homiliae, II, 2]. Moreover, joy over an object embraced as present is keener the more that object is loved; consequently that joy is full, not only because of the object that gives joy, but also on the part of him who rejoices. This joy is what crowns human beatitude. Hence Augustine writes in his Confessions that happiness is joy in truth [X, 23].

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  I answer that, “Fruitio” [enjoyment] and “fructus” [fruit] seem to refer to the same, one being derived from the other; which from which, matters not for our purpose; though it seems probable that the one which is more clearly known, was first named. Now those things are most manifest to us which appeal most to the senses: wherefore it seems that the word “fruition” is derived from sensible fruits. But sensible fruit is that which we expect the tree to produce in the last place, and in which a certain sweetness is to be perceived. Hence fruition seems to have relation to love, or to the delight which one has in realizing the longed-for term, which is the end. Now the end and the good is the object of the appetitive power. Wherefore it is evident that fruition is the act of the appetitive power. Reply to Objection 1: Nothing hinders one and the same thing from belonging, under different aspects, to different powers. Accordingly the vision of God, as vision, is an act of the intellect, but as a good and an end, is the object of the will. And as such is the fruition thereof: so that the intellect attains this end, as the executive power, but the will as the motive power, moving (the powers) towards the end and enjoying the end attained. Reply to Objection 2: The perfection and end of every other power is contained in the object of the appetitive power, as the proper is contained in the common, as stated above ([1078]Q[9], A[1]). Hence the perfection and end of each power, in so far as it is a good, belongs to the appetitive power. Wherefore the appetitive power moves the other powers to their ends; and itself realizes the end, when each of them reaches the end. Reply to Objection 3: In delight there are two things: perception of what is becoming; and this belongs to the apprehensive power; and complacency in that which is offered as becoming: and this belongs to the appetitive power, in which power delight is formally completed. Whether to enjoy belongs to the rational creature alone, or also to irrational animals?Objection 1: It would seem that to enjoy belongs to men alone. For Augustine says (De Doctr. Christ. i, 22) that “it is given to us men to enjoy and to use.” Therefore other animals cannot enjoy. Objection 2: Further, to enjoy relates to the last end. But irrational animals cannot obtain the last end. Therefore it is not for them to enjoy. Objection 3: Further, just as the sensitive appetite is beneath the intellectual appetite, so is the natural appetite beneath the sensitive. If, therefore, to enjoy belongs to the sensitive appetite, it seems that for the same reason it can belong to the natural appetite. But this is evidently false, since the latter cannot delight in anything. Therefore the sensitive appetite cannot enjoy: and accordingly enjoyment is not possible for irrational animals.

• From Fifty Shades of Grey (2011)

  “Fine, thank you,” I’m still breathless. “Thanks once again for first class. It really is a much nicer way to travel.” I smile shyly at him. “I have some news,” I add nervously. “Oh?” He looks down at me as he undoes the last button, slips my blouse down my arms, and throws it on top of his discarded clothes. “I have a job.” He stills, then smiles at me, his eyes warm and soft. “Congratulations, Miss Steele. Now will you tell me where?” “You don’t know?” He shakes his head, frowning. “Why would I know?” “With your stalking capabilities, I thought you might have—” I stop as his face falls. “Anastasia, I wouldn’t dream of interfering in your career. Unless you ask me to, of course.” He looks wounded. “So you have no idea which company?” “No. I know there are four publishing companies in Seattle—so I am assuming it’s one of them.” “SIP.” “Oh, the small one, good. Well done.” He leans forward and kisses my forehead. “Clever girl. When do you start?” “Monday.” “That soon, eh? I’d better take advantage of you while I still can. Turn around.” I am thrown by his casual command but do as I’m bid, and he undoes my bra and unzips my skirt. He pushes my skirt down, cupping my behind as he does and kissing my shoulder. He leans against me and his nose nuzzles my hair, inhaling deeply. He squeezes my buttocks. “You intoxicate me, Miss Steele, and you calm me. Such a heady combination.” He kisses my hair. Grabbing my hand, he tugs me into the shower. “Ow,” I squeal. The water is practically scalding. Christian grins down at me as the water cascades over him. “It’s only a little hot water.” And actually he’s right. It feels heavenly, washing off the sticky Georgia morning and the stickiness from our lovemaking. “Turn around,” he orders, and I comply, turning to face the wall. “I want to wash you,” he murmurs and reaches for the body wash. He squirts a little into his hand. “I have something else to tell you,” I murmur as his hands start on my shoulders. “Oh yes?” he asks mildly. I steel myself with a deep breath. “My friend José’s photography show is opening Thursday in Portland.” He stills, his hands hovering over my breasts. I have emphasized the word friend. “Yes, what about it?” “I said I would go. Do you want to come with me?” After what feels like a monumental amount of time, he slowly starts washing me again. “What time?” “The opening is at seven thirty p.m.” He kisses my ear. “Okay.” Inside my subconscious relaxes and then collapses, slumped into an old battered armchair. “Were you nervous about asking me?” “Yes. How can you tell?” “Anastasia, your whole body’s just relaxed,” he says dryly. “Well, you just seem to be, um…on the jealous side.”

• From Fifty Shades of Grey (2011)

  The crease on his brow deepens. “Well, naturally I am all those things, and now you’ve got me really intrigued. What are you hiding from me, Miss Steele?” I blink at him innocently. “I’m not hiding anything.” “Anastasia, you are a hopeless liar.” “I thought you were going to make me giggle after sex; this isn’t doing it for me.” His lips quirk up. “I can’t tell jokes.” “Mr. Grey! Something you can’t do?” I grin at him, and he grins back. “No, hopeless joke teller.” He looks so proud of himself that I start to giggle. “I’m a hopeless joke teller, too.” “That is such a lovely sound,” he murmurs, and he leans forward and kisses me. “And you are hiding something, Anastasia. I may have to torture it out of you.” Chapter Twenty-SixI wake with a jolt. I think I’ve just fallen down some stairs in a dream, and I bolt upright, momentarily disoriented. It is dark, and I’m in Christian’s bed alone. Something has woken me, some nagging thought. I glance over at the alarm clock on his bedside. It is five in the morning, but I feel rested. Why is that? Oh, it’s the time difference. It would be eight a.m. in Georgia. Holy crap, I need to take my pill. I clamber out of bed, grateful for whatever it is that has woken me. I can hear faint notes from the piano. Christian is playing. This I must see. I love watching him play. Naked, I grab my bathrobe from the chair and wander quietly down the corridor, slipping on my robe and listening to the magical sound of the melodic lament that’s coming from the great room. Shrouded in darkness, Christian sits in a bubble of light as he plays, and his hair glints with burnished copper highlights. He looks naked, though I know he’s wearing his PJ bottoms. He’s concentrating, playing beautifully, lost in the melancholy of the music. I hesitate, watching from the shadows, not wanting to interrupt him. I want to hold him. He looks lost, sad even, and achingly lonely—or maybe it’s just the music that’s so full of poignant sorrow. He finishes the piece, pauses for a split second, then starts to play it again. I move cautiously toward him, drawn as the moth to the flame. The idea makes me smile. He glances up at me and frowns before his gaze returns to his hands. Oh crap, is he pissed off that I am disturbing him? “You should be asleep,” he scolds mildly. I can tell he’s preoccupied with something. “So should you,” I retort, not quite as mildly. He glances up again, his lips twitching with a trace of a smile. “Are you scolding me, Miss Steele?” “Yes, Mr. Grey, I am.” “Well, I can’t sleep.” He frowns once more as a trace of irritation or anger flashes across his face. With me? Surely not.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Similarly, that state cannot fail through the corruption of the beings existing there. These are either naturally incorruptible, as is the case with the angels, or they will be transferred to a condition of incorruption, as is the case with men. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption,” as we are informed in 1 Corinthians 15:53. The same is indicated in the Apocalypse 3:12: “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” Nor can that state fail by reason of the turning away of man’s will in disgust. The more clearly God, the essence of goodness, is seen, the more He must be loved; and so enjoyment of Him will be desired ever more keenly, according to Sirach 24:29: “They that eat Me shall yet hunger, and they that drink Me shall yet thirst.” For this reason the words of 1 Peter 1:12, “on whom the angels desire to look,” were spoken of the angels who see God. That state will not be overthrown by the attack of an enemy, for no disturbing interference of any evil will be found there, as we read in Isaiah 35:9: “No lion shall be there,” that is, no assaulting devil, “nor shall any mischievous beast, that is, any evil man, “go up by it nor be found there.” Hence our Lord says of His sheep, in John 15:28: “They shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of My hand.” Furthermore, that state cannot come to an end as a result of the banishment of some of its inhabitants by God. No one will be expelled from that state on account of sin, which will be simply non-existent in a place where every evil will be absent; hence we are told in Isaiah 60:21: “Your people shall be all just.” Again, none will be exiled for the purpose of urging them on to greater good, as happens at times in this world, when God withdraws spiritual consolations even from the just and takes away other of His benefits, in order that men may seek them with greater eagerness and may acknowledge their own powerlessness; that state is not one of correction or progress, but is a life of final perfection. This is why our Lord says in John 6:37: “Him that cometh to Me, I will not cast out.” Therefore that state will consist in the everlasting enjoyment of all the goods mentioned, as is said in Psalm 5:12: “They shall rejoice forever, and You shall dwell in them.” Consequently the kingdom we have been discussing is perfect happiness, for it contains all good in changeless abundance. And, since happiness is naturally desired by men, the kingdom of God, too, is desired by all. CHAPTER 10

• From Between Us

  Interviews with first-generation Mexican immigrants to North Carolina pointed to the connectedness of happiness as well. We asked Mexican American working-class men and women to describe a situation in which they felt happy. And many of them described their happiness in terms of connections. Carmen, a twenty-two-year-old housekeeper who had come to the United States six years prior, told us about a surprise party that her girlfriends organized for her birthday. I felt happiness and wanted to cry, cause like I say . . . that had never happened to me. . . . I felt like hugging them all at once. Truly, cause I was so happy right then that I didn’t just feel like hugging one, but all of them at once time. (laughter). I cried for joy. And Juan, a twenty-seven-year-old restaurant worker who had been in the United States for eight years, was happy that, four years earlier, he had been able to help his wife getting through the birth of their first son: My presence counted a lot at the time my son was born and my wife was kind of nervous since it was her first baby. My presence was important so everything would turn out right. . . . “Keep going” was all I said for the time being, but she would answer: “I can’t”. . . . Some of my friends had already told me about the situation I was going to be in. Right? I tried to do things correctly, to be calm and to keep motivating my wife during those moments . . . and that is how it happened. At the time, what we were going through . . . there were not enough translators . . . and it was not our language . . . I did the best I could with what I knew . . . I felt [different] things at the same time, I felt bad but later on . . . something very . . . great happiness. What I felt like doing at that time was to be near my family; be with them, and I did that. Juan is happy because he was able to support his wife; his happiness is about connectedness. In fact, when the Latinx interviewer asks Juan if the situation increased his self-esteem, Juan replies he does not understand the question very well. Only when the interviewer highlights the connection with his wife, does Juan understand: Interviewer: The fact that you were there during that difficult time with your wife, does it make you feel more respect for yourself, where you feel more . . . Juan: Yes, because I think that it is nice to know that you are important to other people.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Diem Nat. Christi.) Though coming in the form of man, yet not in every thing is He subject to the laws of man’s nature; for while His being born of a woman, tells of human nature; virginity becoming capable of childbirth betokens something above man. Of Him then His mother’s burden was light, the birth immaculate, the delivery without pain, the nativity without defilement, neither beginning from wanton desire, nor brought to pass with sorrow. For as she who by her guilt engrafted death into our nature, was condemned to bring forth in trouble, it was meet that she who brought life into the world should accomplish her delivery with joy. But through a virgin’s purity He makes His passage into mortal life at a time in which the darkness was beginning to fail, and the vast expanse of night to fade away before the exceeding brightness of the light. For the death of sin had brought an end of wickedness which from henceforth tends to nothing by reason of the presence of the true light which has illuminated the whole world with the rays of the Gospel. BEDE. He condescended to become incarnate at that time, that after His birth He might be enrolled in Cæsar’s taxing, and in order to bring liberty to us might Himself become subject to slavery. It was well also that our Lord was born at Bethlehem, not only as a mark of the royal crown, but on account of the sacrament of the name. GREGORY. (Hom. viii. in Ev.) Bethlehem is by interpretation the house of bread. For it is the Lord Himself who says, I am the bread of life which came down from heaven. (John 6:53.) The place therefore where the Lord was born was before called the house of bread, because it was there that He was to appear in His fleshly nature who should refresh the souls of the elect with spiritual fulness. BEDE. But down to the very end of time, the Lord ceases not to be conceived at Nazareth, to be born at Bethlehem, whenever any of His hearers taking of the flour of the word makes himself a house of eternal bread. Daily in the Virgin’s womb, i. e. in the mind of believers, Christ is conceived by faith, born by baptism. It follows, and she brought forth her firstborn son.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  GLOSS. (non occ.) The offences, and, them that do iniquity, are to be distinguished as heretics and schismatics; the offences referring to heretics; while by them that do iniquity are to be understood schismatics. Otherwise; By offences may be understood those that give their neighbour an occasion of falling, by those that do iniquity all other sinners. RABANUS. Observe, He says, Those that do iniquity, not, those who have done; because not they who have turned to penitence, but they only that abide in their sins are to be delivered to eternal torments. CHRYSOSTOM. Behold the unspeakable love of God towards men! He is ready to shew mercy, slow to punish; when He sows, He sows Himself; when He punishes, He punishes by others, sending His Angels to that. It follows, There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. REMIGIUS. In these words is shewn the reality of the resurrection of the body; and further, the twofold pains of hell, extreme heat, and extreme cold. And as the offences are referred to the tares, so the righteous are reckoned among the children of the kingdom; concerning whom it follows, Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. For in the present world the light of the saints shines before men, but after the consummation of all things, the righteous themselves shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. CHRYSOSTOM. Not that they shall not shine with higher brightness, but because we know no degree of brightness that surpasses that of the sun, therefore He uses an example adapted to our understanding. REMIGIUS. That He says, Then shall they shine, implies that they now shine for an example to others, but they shall then shine as the sun to the praise of God. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. RABANUS. That is, Let him understand who has understanding, because all these things are to be understood mystically, and not literally. 13:4444. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. CHRYSOSTOM. The foregoing parables of the leaven, and the grain of mustard-seed, are referred to the power of the Gospel preaching, which has subdued the whole world; in order to shew its value and splendour, He now puts forth parables concerning a pearl and a treasure, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. For the Gospel preaching is hidden in this world; and if you do not sell your all you will not purchase it; and this you ought to do with joy; wherefore it follows, which when a man hath found, he hideth it.

• From Between Us

  Negative interpersonal consequences make happiness an undesirable emotion elsewhere as well. I remember my own mother admonishing me that I should be acting normal, which in her words was “crazy enough.” Excited happiness was not valued in Amsterdam of the ’60s. My upbringing has seeped into the way I experience happiness as an adult. When my son Oliver’s baseball team played well (or the other team made mistakes in the his team’s favor), the happiness of the other mothers at the sideline seemed strong and undiluted. They cheered and celebrated without reservation. I too felt happy when my son’s team played well, but I would never have cheered in the same way, and in fact, I was concerned about hurting the feelings of the six- and seven-year-old boys on the other team, who also tried to play their best. My happiness was less blissful, and I was more reticent to cheer. This is just to say that we do not need to go to “exotic” cultures to find a different attitude towards—and a different experience of—happiness. And if Amsterdam still sounds exotic, then author Barbara Ehrenreich’s description of American settlers may bring home that happiness has not always been, and is not universally, sought out. The predecessor of America’s present culture of happiness was nothing short of an unhappiness culture: The Calvinism brought by white settlers to New England could be described as a system of socially imposed depression. Its God was “utterly lawless” . . . , an all-powerful entity who “reveals his hatred of his creatures, not his love for them. . . .” The task for the living was to constantly examine “the loathsome abominations that lie in his bosom,” seeking to uproot the sinful thoughts that are a sure sign of damnation. Calvinism offered only one form of relief from this anxious work of self-examination, and that was another form of labor—clearing, planting, stitching, building up farms and business. Anything other than labor of either industrious or spiritual sort—idleness or pleasure seeking—was a contemptible sin. We were not there to measure the everyday happiness of American settlers, but we have been able to compare everyday feelings of happiness in East Asian and contemporary white American cultures. To this end, psychologists have used a method called experience sampling, where they ask people several times a day how they are feeling. Using this method, we have found that Japanese and Asian American college students consistently report less happiness (and more unhappiness) than their white American counterparts. They experience happiness less often, and when they experience happiness, it is less intense. Clearly, then, the value attached to happiness has an effect on its prevalence in everyday life.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  HILARY. This treasure is indeed found without cost; for the Gospel preaching is open to all, but to use and possess the treasure with its field we may not without price, for heavenly riches are not obtained without the loss of this world. JEROME. That he hides it, does not proceed of envy towards others, but as one that treasures up what he would not lose, he hides in his heart that which he prizes above his former possessions. GREGORY. (Hom. in Ev. xi. 1.) Otherwise; The treasure hidden in the field is the desire of heaven; the field in which the treasure is hidden is the discipline of heavenly learning; this, when a man finds, he hides, in order that he may preserve it; for zeal and affections heavenward it is not enough that we protect from evil spirits, if we do not protect from human praises. For in this present life we are in the way which leads to our country, and evil spirits as robbers beset us in our journey. Those therefore who carry their treasure openly, they seek to plunder in the way. When I say this, I do not mean that our neighbours should not see our works, but that in what we do, we should not seek praise from without. The kingdom of heaven is therefore compared to things of earth, that the mind may rise from things familiar to things unknown, and may learn to love the unknown by that which it knows is loved when known. It follows, And for joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. He it is that selleth all he hath and buyeth the field, who, renouncing fleshly delights, tramples upon all his worldly desires in his anxiety for the heavenly discipline. JEROME. Or, That treasure in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3.), is either God the Word, who seems hid in Christ’s flesh, or the Holy Scriptures, in which are laid up the knowledge of the Saviour. AUGUSTINE. (Quæst. in Ev. i. 13.) Or, He speaks of the two testaments in the Church, which, when any hath attained to a partial understanding of, he perceives how great things lie hid there, and goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that; that is, by despising temporal things he purchases to himself peace, that he may be rich in the knowledge of God. 13:45–4645. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Objection 2: Further, according to Gregory (Hom. in Evang. xxxiv), “penance consists in deploring past sins, and in not committing again those we have deplored.” But there is no true penance without charity. Therefore the joy of charity has an admixture of sorrow. Objection 3: Further, it is through charity that man desires to be with Christ according to Phil. 1:23: “Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.” Now this desire gives rise, in man, to a certain sadness, according to Ps. 119:5: “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!” Therefore the joy of charity admits of a seasoning of sorrow. On the contrary, The joy of charity is joy about the Divine wisdom. Now such like joy has no admixture of sorrow, according to Wis. 8:16: “Her conversation hath no bitterness.” Therefore the joy of charity is incompatible with an admixture of sorrow. I answer that, As stated above (A[1], ad 3), a twofold joy in God arises from charity. One, the more excellent, is proper to charity; and with this joy we rejoice in the Divine good considered in itself. This joy of charity is incompatible with an admixture of sorrow, even as the good which is its object is incompatible with any admixture of evil: hence the Apostle says (Phil. 4:4): “Rejoice in the Lord always.” The other is the joy of charity whereby we rejoice in the Divine good as participated by us. This participation can be hindered by anything contrary to it, wherefore, in this respect, the joy of charity is compatible with an admixture of sorrow, in so far as a man grieves for that which hinders the participation of the Divine good, either in us or in our neighbor, whom we love as ourselves. Reply to Objection 1: Our neighbor does not weep save on account of some evil. Now every evil implies lack of participation in the sovereign good: hence charity makes us weep with our neighbor in so far as he is hindered from participating in the Divine good. Reply to Objection 2: Our sins divide between us and God, according to Is. 59:2; wherefore this is the reason why we grieve for our past sins, or for those of others, in so far as they hinder us from participating in the Divine good. Reply to Objection 3: Although in this unhappy abode we participate, after a fashion, in the Divine good, by knowledge and love, yet the unhappiness of this life is an obstacle to a perfect participation in the Divine good: hence this very sorrow, whereby a man grieves for the delay of glory, is connected with the hindrance to a participation of the Divine good.

• From Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (1989)

  Smith is once more attacking the crux of volu ntaris m, wh ich makes God's will something qu ite external to the bent of natur e: If it could be supposed that God should plant a Religion in the Soul that had no affinity or alli ance with it, it would grow there but as a strange slip. But God when he gives his Laws to men, does not by virtUe of his Absolute dominion dictate any thing at randome, and in such an arbitrarious way as some imagine. 8 The major plea of volunta rism was that an "arbitrari ous" wil l had to be attribut ed to God, or else we fail to recognize his absolute sovereignty. To hold a doctrine of natur al good was itself a denial of God 's power, an affront to the honour of God. To this the Camb ridge thin kers replied that volun tarists were projecting thei r own "Peevish ness and Self-will" onto God, as though he were a human tyrant "easi ly entic' d by Flatteries" .9 As Whic hcote put it, "There is that in God that is more beautiful than power, than wi ll and Sovereignty, viz. His righteou sness, His good-will, His ju stice, wisd om and the like " . 10 The Cambr idge thinkers couched thei r opposition to volun tarism in a teleological doctrine of nature as tendi ng towards the good, grounde d in the Platonic school, hence the term they are usua lly known by. As Cassirer ha s pointed ou t, their roots were in the Platonism of the Renaissance, as developed in the fifteenth century by Ficin o and Pico. This was a Platonism very influenc ed by Plotinu s. It was a doctrine in wh ich love pl ayed a central part; not only the ascending love of the lower for the higher, Plato's eros, but also a love of the higher wh ich expr essed itself in care for the lower, whic h could easily be identified with Christ ian agape. The two together make a vast circle of love through the un iverse. 11 Nothin g more at odds with the new Moral Sentiments • .2 Jr me chanical philosophy can be conceived . In their natural science , Cudworth and his allie s were fighting a rear-guard action against the future. 12 But the driving motive of their "Platonism" was a religious and mora l one, and in this domain somethin g new is creeping in. A bran d of Augustinian inwardness is transposing the "Platonis m" into som ething different. This is wh at is reflected in Smith's use of the expression 'inward Nature'.

• From How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety (2018)

  Speaking of making other people more comfortable, as you learn about social anxiety you’ll start to see it everywhere. For example, watch someone stand alone at a party for a moment and it’s almost guaranteed they’ll pull out their phone to quell their internal awkwardness. So kill two birds with one stone by taking on the role of The One Who Puts Others at Ease. Indeed, the vast majority of people prefer that someone else strike up conversation and will be profoundly grateful if you initiate, even if they don’t admit their relief to you. So in the service of making others more comfortable, assign yourself the task of finding someone standing alone at an event and saying hello. Internally, they’ll thank you for it, but what’s more, you’ll come away feeling happier and stronger. A creative 2014 study out of the University of Chicago found that even in the culturally expected silence of the weekday mass transit commute, people who take the initiative to say hello not only brighten someone else’s day but also reap rewards for themselves. The study assigned commuters the task of striking up a conversation with a stranger on their train—the longer, the better. To give them some structure, they were told, “Find out something interesting about him or her and tell them something about you.… Your goal is to try to get to know your community neighbor this morning.” Alternatively, those randomly assigned to the solitude condition were told, “Please keep to yourself and enjoy your solitude on the train today. Take this time to sit alone with your thoughts. Your goal is to focus on yourself and the day ahead of you.” Predictably, participants who were assigned to strike up a conversation were initially reluctant. They expected the experience would be awkward, unpleasant, and unproductive, but the results were exactly the opposite. Surprisingly, commuters who connected with a stranger had a significantly more positive commute than those instructed to sit in solitude. What’s more, the productivity of the trip wasn’t compromised—the group assigned to connect with a stranger reported a level of productivity that was nearly identical to those who kept to themselves. Indeed, assigning yourself the task of saying good morning and making a remark about the weather may end there, which is fine, but it could also lead to pleasant conversation, boosted mood, invigorated productivity, and—most important—another brick added firmly to your building. The only word of caution: don’t choose a structure that allows you to avoid. Helping with the dishes after a dinner party is generous, but if it keeps you in the kitchen while everyone else is chatting over coffee on the stoop your building goes neglected. Volunteering on the fundraising committee for your tai chi group is great structure, but not if the committee communicates only by text.